Transcript of interview with John Tan (conducted by Amanda Lee), 18 August 2016, 2 pm, John’s residence.
John is a 60-year old male Chinese Singaporean who is a graphic designer and photographer. John enjoys listening to music from various genres such as rock, pop, jazz, funk, comedy music, and Western classical music. Some of his favorite artists are Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Nat King Cole, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. John also likes the punchy and upbeat music from movie soundtracks from the crime genre. John’s favorite musicals are The Sound of Music (1965), Camelot (1967), Jesus Christ Superstar (1971), West Side Story (1957) and Hair (1967). John also thinks that classical music should be preserved as it is very articulate, and it has stood the test of time. His favorite composer is Rachmaninoff as he finds the pieces to be very deep and passionate. John does not really listen to much Chinese pop music or traditional Chinese music. However, he is aware that there are some good pieces. He mainly likes artists like G.E.M. and Teresa Teng, and describes Teng as the Karen Carpenter of Asia. He also likes and is very impressed by Nuzi Shi’er Yuefang (12 Girls Band, which performs crossover Chinese music). He also finds that while traditional Chinese music can be good, it does not exactly touch him in the same way English pop rock does. John also does not think that traditional Chinese music expresses his identity as he sees himself as being very Westernized and as a citizen of the world, rather than an ethnic Chinese. John sees music as a bridge to connect different people and cultures rather than as a way to segregate them. John did not like the experimental Chinese music extract as he felt that it was too long-winded and pretentious. John likes Singaporean artists such as Charlie Lim and Sam Willows. However, he thinks that Singaporean musicians are not that good yet, and they do not have soul or passion for music. He prefers Singaporean musicians from the 60s and 70s compared to contemporary musicians. John thinks that although the government is pushing to develop arts and culture, it is better to leave it so that it develops naturally.
“Basically I like to listen to all sorts of music ah, as long as it’s good lah, ah. It can be classical, it can be rock, it can be jazz, it can be anything. But it must be good music.”
“I liked Frank Sinatra when I was a little boy. And one of my favorite, er, singers would be Nat King Cole. Ah, Nat King Cole, I like him very much because Nat King Cole very warm, you know. You got a very nice, warm voice.”
“Most of the good and upbeat music will come from crime movies. Car chase scene, you know, Fast and Furious (2001), whatever, you know, crime. More, more punchy lah, you know what I mean.”
“I find it a bit corny, you know what I mean? Unless it’s a really good musical. There are only 3 musical in this world, or 4 musical – plays ah, or maximum 5 lah – 3 or 4, that I really appreciate. Er, we can begin with The Sound of [Music] (1965), then there’s another – another one that is very good, um, musical, that is Camelot.”
“Rachmaninoff. Very famous, very deep, very passionate. You listen to his violins and the compositions, you can cry lah. Because the feeling it really show – it really, you know – it’s hard you know. Instrumental music, ah, to touch you is not easy, you know.”
“Preserve. 2000 percent, you must preserve [Western] classical music. Classical music is – I find classical music ah, very articulate. And the people who compose it ah, wah, they’re really great.”
“But I go into Chinese music and I listen, there are some very good one. Okay to be – to – to – to be honest with you, I like Teresa Teng very much. Her voice – Teresa Teng to me is like the Karen Carpenter of Asia.”
“Wah. China – I saw one group [Nuzi Shi’er Yuefang], I can’t remember the name, you know, all the pretty girls in white. They play Chinese music fan[tasically] – I can’t remember the name. You go YouTube and check, very famous, wah. Really blow my mind.”
“[Traditional Chinese music] is very good, lah but it doesn’t touch my heart. To me lah, you know. So I don’t go further into it, lah. But there are a lot of, er, good Chinese music written which I have not listened yet.”
“[Experimental Chinese music is] like ... trying to show that you are very artistic but you are not – all this moody, this kind of music, I don’t like. It takes 100 years before the actual song comes in, you know. Wah, like very – people think it’s very deep but actually it’s rubbish to me, you know what I mean or not.”
“But if you were to go, and watch and listen like that ah, no way. This kind of [experimental Chinese] music must be accompanied by very strong visuals to help it through. I got a lot of these kind of album on Western artists, you know, I listen to them.”
“Why I say – because I’m very Westernized. So I got no – no ... my Chinese culture is very ... how do I say, ah. I know about Chinese culture, don’t think I don’t know, [you] know, but I’m not really into Chinese culture. A bit stiff, lah.”
“So now they want – now [Singapore is] financially there, we want to do culture. But you cannot do that just like that. You gotta have someone who understands and explain and who – who really dug into it and then teach the children how to go about it.”
“You sight read is to know the music. But when you play, you burn the notes away, you gotta play from your heart. This is Singapore, we are lack of that. We don’t have people who, who really can.”
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